E-learning evolves: web-embedded technology is making e-learning more accessible for employees and more affordable for employers

HR Magazine, Oct, 2005 by Michael A. Tucker

The dilemma isn't always the same. For some, it's distance; for others, it's time. In either case, web-based learning technology is helping companies overcome the challenges of information and knowledge sharing.

At marketing communications firm Fleishman-Hillard, distance is the issue. The company's 2,000 employees are spread across 80 locations in 22 countries, so Beth Ward Francesconi uses web-based technology to make information sharing and education more accessible and interactive. The goals: knowledge management and retention.

This fall, the company will unveil electronic portal enhancements and additional training modules that "will let us personalize the intranet, customize and collaborate across the globe," says the senior vice president and partner at the St. Louis-based firm.

For the National Education Association (NEA) in Washington, D.C., time was the limiting factor. So Jim Groves, senior benefits and projects specialist, uses technology to spur attendance at e-meetings on rules and benefits.

"I found that people didn't have time to leave their desks and sit at a meeting," says Groves, who manages the pensions of 1,300 staffers. "We started offering e-meetings and saw better attendance." The organization is seeing a 30 percent to 40 percent increase overall because technology allows Groves to schedule multiple online meetings and save them to share on the intranet later.

For Union Pacific, the largest railroad in North America, both distance and time have been hurdles to learning. About 19,000 of its 48,000 widely disbursed employees work on the railroad's locomotives and freight cars--many on different schedules. So the company uses a blend of traditional learning and e-learning that provides the kind of training far-flung employees require--at a time when they can use it.

Three organizations, one solution: web-based technology that is customized, configured and deployed to help HR executives and employees do their work, receive training and add black to the bottom line.

E-Learning in Demand

By 2008, the e-learning market should more than double, rising to $13.5 billion in the United States and $21 billion globally, according to International Data Group Inc. subsidiary International Data Corp. (IDC), a research firm that uses almost 800 analysts in 50 countries to track technology and industry trends.

One factor fueling the upsurge in e-learning is government mandates that require businesses in a variety of industries, such as health care, to prove compliance with specific standards and to document required competencies to gain accreditation.

Similarly, HR professionals have a legal interest in proving that employees have received anti-sexual harassment and other HR training--a task made easier through the controls and tracking functions available with e-learning.

"From a compliance perspective, a learning management system is valuable in several ways. It's the mechanism that companies use to deploy mandatory training (i.e., HR, accounting and safety policies) to all employees," says Linda Lazor, senior vice president of marketing for Arlington, Va.-based Plateau Systems, a provider of learning management software. "This ensures that all employees receive, undergo and sign off on the training.

"The learning management system is an electronic repository, keeping a record of everyone who took the training, when they took it, their scores on any test questions where applicable, and [confirming that] the employee signed off on the training. In the case of corporate policies and governance training, this can significantly reduce a company's risk."

Another key factor is the steady rise in Internet use. In the time it has taken the web to go from fad to fact, it's estimated that 888 million people globally travel cyberspace, including about 221 million in North America. Both numbers represent a jump of more than 100 percent between 2000 and 2005.

Experts say this heavy usage is spurring a revolution of sorts among a new generation of users who not only are comfortable with existing technology but also regularly use gadgets and protocols that make old-school techies look like Luddites. It is not surprising that many of these users--who will become the HR executives, managers and employees of tomorrow--are tapping into web-based learning solutions in the workplace.

"They've used technology since they were born," says Claire Schooley, who tracks e-learning, web conferencing, and a variety of technology and content issues for Forrester Research, a technology and market research company based in Cambridge, Mass. "They're not enthralled with classroom instruction and learn very well using technology, and will demand a lot of information online whenever they need it."

Build It Well, And They Will Come

Given the demand from employees, and the benefits in terms of cost and speedy delivery, HR executives are using the e-learning model to disseminate a variety of essential content--including everything from equal opportunity rules and sexual harassment policies to training mandates designed to enhance employee performance. Some are even helping employees achieve personal goals like smoking cessation and weight loss.